Phytochemical screening of antioxidant and antibacterial activities of methanolic extracts of some Lamiaceae

• Methanolic extracts of M. pulegium and T. polium exhibited the highest antioxidant activity.
• The antioxidant activity of extracts showed positive correlation with phenolics and flavonoids.
• E. coli was more sensitive to the extracts than S. aureus.
• The most effective extracts against E. coli were M. vulgare and M. pulegium.

In this study, methanolic extracts of four Lamiaceae (Ajuga iva, Marrubium vulgare, Mentha pulegium, and Teucrium polium) were studied for antioxidant and antibacterial activities as well as for polyphenols contents. The antioxidant activity of extracts was evaluated with the use of three assays (reducing power, DPPH assay, and hydrogen peroxide scavenging assay). Generally, the examined plants can be devised in two groups; the first one regrouped plants with high antioxidant activity (M. pulegium and T. polium) and the second one regrouped plants with low activity (M. vulgare and A. iva). The antioxidant activity of extracts showed strong positive correlation with total phenolics and total flavonoids. The antibacterial effect of extracts against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus has been reported by agar disk diffusion and micro-dilution methods. Escherichia coli was more sensitive to the extracts than S. aureus and the most effective extract was M. vulgare.